Worth It
by MixedBreedMaiya
Summary: After a long day, quite a surprise awaits the Lezareno's president at home. One child whisked away by her uncle, the other asleep, two parents get the chance to let down their hair and enjoy some time to themselves. Some sympathy is to be shown an unsuspecting third party, but in the end, this night belongs to only to them.


Hello everyone! I appreciate your taking a glance at this latest piece. After "Everything," I decided to continue exploring the theme of intimacy and honing my use of this new tool in my belt. This scene is somewhat experimental for me, as well, in that I did something a bit new with the traditional roles these two normally play in my writing and played with Raine as the initiating party. It was a really interesting experience, despite how super self-conscious I am. Hopefully you'll let me know what you think. Thank you!

* * *

What a day. The sun had set long ago, and while it did so earlier now, in the winter months, it was still rather late. He had sent word home, of course, mostly to apologize to Raine and her brother, who was currently visiting the island, for his extended absence. Between his neglected duties as a host and two small children keeping their mother busy, he did hate to be away. Hopefully with Uncle Genis around to help, even Micah, at just six months old, would be a little easier to manage.

When he finally reached the front door of the house, he took a few seconds to pause there, draw a deep breath, and shift his mindset from business to home life—a welcome transition to be sure. After flexing his shoulders a little, he slipped through the door and closed it gently behind him.

"I'm home," Regal called habitually even as he set his bag down on the nearby stand and shrugged off his suit jacket. Once he'd hung it up, though, and turned his attention fully to the living room, he found it quite empty, lit by only a couple of dim lamps, and he blinked. It wasn't _that _late, was it, that everyone had already retired? Goodness.

He came further into the room and peeped around the corner, strained to listen for any sounds from upstairs, and found nothing but a still and quiet house. It must have been quite a day here, too, he mused. But if everyone really was asleep, he certainly didn't want to disturb them. He would just take a moment to himself down here, maybe read a bit to wind down, then check on the children and call it a night.

Lowering himself down on the sofa, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes with a contented little sigh. He could feel some of the day's tension melting away. He'd been sitting most of the day, but there was no denying his office chair wasn't as welcoming at these cushions. No more leaning over a desk; no more pouring over papers.

"It's about time you got back."

This quiet voice eased into his solitude and made him open his eyes to find a violet pair looking back at him from above. A bit of white hair tickled his face, and he had to return the little smile she wore.

"Well, hello there. I thought you were asleep."

Raine shook her head slightly. "No," she murmured. "Just changing."

"Changing?"

"Mmhm."

Without explaining any further, she straightened, and he watched her come around the couch where he could actually see her. Despite himself, Regal felt his brow lift, and his stomach did a little flip as he took in the sight of her standing there, clothed in nothing but his old, grey nightshirt. It hung long and loose on her, more a short dress, and the sleeves completely swallowed her hands. Slight and delicate under normal circumstances, she looked tiny, her skin pale but aglow with the soft lighting. It caught him off-guard and left him a little stalled for several seconds, but in the most pleasant way.

Nearly ten years he'd been married to this woman, but she could still stop his heart with a single glance.

Goddess, he loved that shirt on her.

Slowly, Regal leaned forward while she closed the rest of the gap. He accepted her into his arms when she climbed up to sit, facing him, in his lap, and he held her close, never taking his gaze away from hers. "You don't wear that very frequently these days," he told her, his fingers woven together behind her while she wrapped her own arms around the back of his neck. "To what do I owe this particular pleasure?"

She shrugged gently. "It's a special occasion."

"Is it?"

Raine pulled at one end of the ribbon tied in a bow around his hair, and he felt it loosen. "Genis took Chava out for dinner, and she's going to spend the night with him at the hotel afterward."

Ah-hah. That solved one mystery, at least. "I see. Well, I'm sure she'll enjoy that. Is Micah asleep, then?"

"Miraculously," she said wryly as she set the ribbon on the cushion beside her and then returned that hand to the back of his head, where it combed down through hair now falling free, "yes."

Again, his brow inched toward his hairline, and his voice, soft at it was, was not displeased as he observed, "So I have you all to myself this evening." For what might actually have been the first time, it occurred to him, since Micah's birth.

She regarded him through half-lidded eyes. "For an entire night," she nearly purred. Her breath teased his lips, so close had she come. He returned the expression and let his nose touch hers.

"That sounds almost," he said lowly, "like an invitation."

Rather than a reply, she tilted her head and bridged a slow, sweet kiss, one that he returned quite willingly. It tickled the pit of his stomach and warmed him head to toe, and when they parted just an inch, he teased in scarcely more than a whisper, "So definitely an invitation."

Her eyes trailed over his face, and she caressed his cheek with the tips of her nails. "Accept?"

Never had he been happier for a visit from Genis as he was tonight. He hadn't been expecting this particular sort of reception upon his return, but he certainly wasn't going to complain. The rest of the day's concerns dispersed like so much smoke. As if he were another person entirely, he shed the skin of a CEO in favor of that of a humble man faced with a beautiful, sensual woman who offered herself only to him. She was small and soft, and she smelled so nice, and that offer was more than enticing.

It had been a while. Too long.

"With all my heart," he breathed. And everything else.

Raine kissed him again, and his fingers disentangled themselves to instead slide across her lower back and conform to the curve of her hips. She rose to her knees, straddling his lap now, and his own head tilted back to accommodate this position. He let her take the lead, reveling in the unconditional trust that lent itself to these little moments of boldness she showed. She didn't have to say a word. With every touch of her lips, every little bit of distance closed, she told him she loved him, and he knew how lucky he was. He wasn't a possessive man, and certainly not a domineering one, but there was a sweetness all the same in knowing that this was his. That she was his, and his alone. He didn't know what he could possibly have done to deserve her, but whatever it was, he knew he had damn well better keep it up.

Regal inched his hands up along her sides, taking in every fold of the fabric and shape of the petite frame beneath. They had walked this body countless times, and he knew it by heart. He didn't fight when she took one of those hands and drew it toward her collarbone in another invitation he wasn't going to turn down. While she cradled his head, he undid the first button, then the second, without even having to look. He paused there and tugged at the loosened collar to expose a little more of her chest and brush his fingertips against it, savoring the feeling. There was no rush, no hurry. His heart pounded with every touch and quickening breath, but there was a thrill in the anticipation of this sort of intimacy; this gentle, deliberate exchange.

From her lips, he moved to the base of her neck instead and relished the familiar taste of her skin. Raine buried her nose in the hair on his crown. She released him, though, and took over the task of unbuttoning her shirt herself. One at a time, bit by bit. When she had gotten a third of the way down, he reached up and pushed the cloth down just off of her shoulders without any hint of resistance. Likewise, he let her slide out the knot in his tie before tossing it away.

"Welcome home," she whispered in his ear before touching another kiss to it, then to his jawline. Like a schoolboy, he felt his chest flutter, and he turned his head to catch up her mouth again. What a welcome. Between the long days in the office and two small children, one of whom was extraordinarily unpredictable, he could count on one hand the number of hours they had spent both alone and _awake _at the same time over these past months. Not that he would have given either his daughter or his son up for anything, but to be able to stop being parents, just for this one night, and return to simply husband and wife, partners, lovers...

All he could really say as he delighted in this proximity, in her softness and warmth and the unbridled affection he felt in her every move, was thank goodness for his young brother-in-law and whatever providence had coaxed little Micah to sleep on time for once.

With a mounting sense of longing, he sat up a little more. Regal found her hips again and pulled her ever nearer. She herself tugged at his collar with one hand while the other worked to untuck the front of his shirt from beneath his belt. His lips were a little occupied, but the smile of amused appreciation reached the corners of his closed eyes all the same. She was in a very forward, feisty mood tonight. She definitely intended to enjoy herself.

"Raine," he breathed between kisses.

"What do you want?"

He released a quiet, laughing puff through his nose. "I love you."

"Then shut up."

A little more urgency wove into the moment and spurred them on. It was like beginning to tumble downhill, going faster and faster. He could feel her pulse quick as a rabbit's and hear every heavy breath as she unfastened his belt and pulled it free to dump it on the floor atop his discarded tie. No hesitation, no ambiguity. Far from the woman who had blushed and shied away on their wedding night, she was very clear about what she wanted this evening.

He heard a smart tap from behind her after a few minutes, but it took a second to even register as a knock. When it finally did, Regal opened his eyes and peered quizzically around her toward the front door, but Raine, after glancing back herself, just pressed her face to his cheek and advised, "Ignore it," and she didn't have to tell him twice.

Frankly, he was done with the outside world for the night. Whatever, whoever could possibly be behind that door, he just didn't care. Not right now. Few things rose to a level of priority that would warrant interrupting this moment. One of them was asleep upstairs, safe and sound, and if it had been a concern about Chava, he would expect a great deal more force and insistence behind the knock, or at the very least a second round when the first went unanswered. Nothing followed, though, and he dismissed it from his mind to slip back into his body and the indulgence of every sense.

Until, at least, the lock began to rattle.

Raine pulled back and peered over her shoulder again, and they shared a baffled, somewhat concerned look. But it only lasted an instant before he saw her eyes go wide, and she stared at him.

"Goddess Martel," she murmured. "I gave Genis a key for emergencies."

His brow shot up. In the blink of an eye, she scrambled from his lap to sit on the sofa beside him. Regal helped her pull the shirt back up onto her shoulders, but there wasn't exactly time to rebutton it, and she could only grasp it closed in front with one tight fist just in time for the door to ease open and permit a lanky young man entrance.

Genis closed the door carefully behind him and turned around, but he stopped short after he'd come a step further into the room. Regal watched him blink at them.

"Oh. Hey. I thought you guys were in bed."

The couple exchanged another glance. Raine had her free hand cupped over her mouth, one leg crossed over the other, leaning forward with her elbow on her knee. At a distance, it would probably be lost in the dim lighting, but he was privy to the faintest hint of pink dusted over the bridge of her nose.

"No," she replied. "No. Not quite."

Quietly, Regal cleared his throat and gave his cheek an idle scratch when the boy tilted his head. "I mean, you didn't answer," he laughed, "so I just assumed—Raine, why are you sitting like that?"

Both of them looked down at the hand still keeping her shirt closed. "No reason at all." She flicked her gaze toward him, and the look on her face, like she was trying very hard to keep it together, paired with the awkwardness of the entire situation, had him biting back a smile himself. He had to turn his head and cough to hide it. "Did you need something, Genis?"

"...Uh...yeah. Yeah, apparently Chava forgot her stuffed animal, and she can't sleep without it, so I was just...gonna..."

The boy trailed off. His eyes had landed on the articles dumped on the floor in front of the couch, and they slowly went from there to Regal and his disheveled shirt and probably mussed hair, to his sister's tight, conspicuous fist, and something very apparently dawned on him. His mouth opened without a sound, his eyes widened, and he suddenly looked completely mortified.

"Oh my... You were...and then I..."

It was Raine's turn to cough, and out of her brother's sight, he prodded her in the back impishly.

"Goddess _Martel_! What th—_really_?" Horror reigned on his face, and Regal pinched the bridge of his nose, desperately willing the laughter at everyone's expense, including his own bust mostly Genis's, not to escape. "Down here? On the _couch_? People sit on that! What is wrong with you?" He was like a squeamish little girl, and it was remarkably hard to keep even a remotely straight face. That was probably why Raine still had her mouth covered, he thought.

"You just...with the... _Augh_. No. You know what? I'm just gonna go upstairs and find Chava's thing." And then get the hell out of there, he was quite certain was the unspoken part of that sentence when Genis curtained his face from view and made directly for the stairs.

"Don't wake up Micah," Raine called over her shoulder without looking back.

"Of course not. We wouldn't want to _distract _you," was his answer without even a second's pause in his path, and his wife squeezed her eyes shut and splayed her free hand up over the rest of her face while the duke continued to try and stifle his growing amusement.

It wasn't more than two minutes before Genis had come down, Chava's old cat plush in his hands. He still appeared absolutely scandalized, and he was clearly trying not to look at them now. The boy didn't stop, didn't say another word, but just fled toward the door.

"Good night," she offered wryly, but the only reply she got was the closing door. As soon as they were alone again, Raine let go of her shirt to press both hands to her face, hunched over her lap, and he shared in the laughter into which she dissolved. They were both embarrassed, to be sure, but neither one of them nearly as much so, he felt, as the poor young man they'd scared off.

Regal pushed himself off the sofa and went toward the door to lock it again in the wake of the hasty departure.

"And now we've completely traumatized him," she announced, rising to her feet to meet him when he'd returned, and he chuckled again, warmly, wrapping his arms back around her waist.

"I do feel a little sorry for him," he agreed, but he smiled down at her. Granted, he had come in wholly unannounced and really brought it upon himself and everyone else, but he couldn't imagine the level of alarm and repugnance that accompanied a younger brother having to think of his sister in the throes of passion. It was probably almost as bad as walking in on one's parents, heaven forbid.

"He might get over it. Eventually. Tomorrow morning will probably be a little awkward, though."

"Mm. Probably. But the real question is," he teased her, "was it worth it?"

The look she gave him, made one eyebrow arch. Raine slid her hands up his chest and rose onto her toes with an almost mischievous, "Let's find out." She took hold of his shirt and drew him away from the sofa, moving slowly and steadily until her own back was flat against a wall and they were inches apart again.

His heart picked back up as he took in this clear suggestion; interruptions notwithstanding, they still had the night. And this time, they could be reasonably certain there would not be another intrusion. Genis had certainly learned _his _lesson at least, and they might be lucky if the lad ever walked into the house again.

But that didn't matter. Not tonight. The only thing that mattered was her, and he stroked her cheek tenderly in a tacit way of communicating this.

"At your command, Lady Bryant," he murmured.

"Damn right."

He laughed again and took her head in his hands, pinning her tightly against the wall. Her fingers grasped at his sleeves, and she returned his kiss with such an earnestness and a fire that hadn't so much as dimmed from before. They clung to each other, enjoyed each other, rooted in their bodies and letting go of any inhibition.

Years ago, she probably would have retreated behind a mask after something like that, utterly put off, the moment gone. But now she was happy, he thought. She was free. She trusted him, and she was confident in them, but also confident in herself. It was a truly beautiful thing, and he cherished the privilege he had had of bearing witness as she'd come out of her shell. She owned him, mind, body, and soul, and she deserved every part. There was just one thing of which he was certain, one thing he was determined to ensure:

It would be entirely worth it.


End file.
